The Essence of a Global Corporation

These days I am receiving many public appeals and personal letters concerning a possible new Volkswagen plant in Turkey. On the one hand, there is the demand that Volkswagen should behave in a politically neutral manner and make decisions on the basis of purely economic considerations. On the other hand, there is the expectation that Volkswagen reconsiders its decision to locate in Turkey from a moral point of view.

Volkswagen postponed its decision until the end of the year. We did so despite the fact that a plant in Turkey is in our economic interest. With its large market and good industrial base, Turkey is a very suitable production location for us.

However, we are convinced that if businesses think that international law and human rights are the sole responsibility of governments, the market economy loses its ethical foundation. Volkswagen shares the assessment of the German government and the European Union on the military conflict in northern Syria. As long as people are being killed, we are not laying the foundation stone next to a battlefield.

However, it is equally part of a company's ethical responsibility to consider the long-term consequences as thoroughly as the short-term ones. I am convinced that international trade and close economic ties support peace, prosperity, and freedom. Sanctions must not become protectionism.

It is also part of our corporate responsibility to take into account the impact of our decisions on the specific living conditions of a great number of people. The purpose of building an automobile plant is not to secure the existence of a government. But it secures the existence of thousands of people. A safe workplace under fair conditions. An income that enables your children to get a good education and to have a brighter future. These people rightly expect that their hopes will not become the plaything of political action.

Volkswagen has production plants all over the world. China, Russia, South Africa, Brazil, India, the United States and many more. That is the essence of a global corporation. Everywhere, we comply with local laws and our own ethical standards. We support the community and we are part of it. We know that not all these countries share our vision of a free democracy. According to the Economist's Democracy Index, only 4.5 percent of the world's population live in "full democracies”. We must also care about the development prospects of the remaining 95.5 percent.

This is the difficult balance behind all of our decisions. Our decision on a new plant in Turkey is still open. Only one thing is certain:

Ethical action is not synonymous with simple answers. That applies to governments. And it applies to us.